"That was really close. I almost shot you," Ivan grumbled, rubbing the side of his head. His voice carried a mix of annoyance and relief. "And your punches really hurt, by the way."

  Kai grinned, his mouth full of ration bars, making his words barely understandable. "I gu rally Surry."

  He was so hungry he barely had control over himself. He hadn’t realized hunger could feel this visceral, like something gnawing at his insides. If it weren’t for the emergency rations the crew carried, he seriously worried the nanites inside him would start eating him alive.

  He tore into another piece of the dry, compressed biscuit. It was almost flavorless, drier than the desert plains of Drakmoor, but he didn’t stop.

  "You should drink some water," Eliana said, handing him her canteen.

  Kai took it, downing several large gulps. The cool liquid eased the dryness in his throat, and for the first time in what felt like days, he felt human again.

  "Thank you, Eliana." He smiled, feeling nothing but relief and gratitude to finally be with her again.

  He glanced to the side. Robert, as expected, was already chatting up Derniere, disassembling her rifle while explaining the function of each part.

  Kai had no doubt Derniere had pulled the trigger when Ivan had stormed in the room earlier. But the gun had jammed. A rare stroke of luck—otherwise, they wouldn’t be casually chit-chatting right now.

  Derniere looked uncomfortable. Surrounded by so many new people, her shoulders were stiff, her fingers twitching like she wasn’t sure where to place them. Her eyes darted toward Kai, silent pleas for help.

  Kai gave her a reassuring smile.

  Eliana cleared her throat loudly. "So!" she said, her voice filled with forced nonchalance. "What exactly did you do while you were trapped down here?"

  Her expression was warm, affectionate—but there was something else. A flicker of something… jealousy?

  Kai arched a brow at her but answered casually, "Not much. It was mostly ruins down here, a lot of old junk and collapsed buildings. Honestly, I was counting on you guys to rescue me." He took another bite of the biscuit, then motioned toward the massive ship looming in the distance. "That was… until I found this."

  "The Ark," Eliana said knowingly.

  "Yeah. You saw the poster in the buried U.S.S.F. ship too—'Humanity’s Last Hope: The Ark.' They are real, Eliana." Kai leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. "Tell me what you think about this. I want to know if you’re thinking what I’m thinking."

  Eliana’s eyes darkened in thought as she processed his words. "Well… a few things come to mind. First off, if the generation ships made it here, that means everything we’ve been told about humanity’s past is a lie. Especially the part about Aurelia Prime being our birthplace."

  "Exactly," Ivan chimed in, rubbing his chin. "And if that’s true… it also means the True Kins were right. They really were the original residents of Earth. A separate branch of humanity, isolated for generations."

  Kai smiled, nodding. "That’s been running through my head too. But here’s what I don’t understand—why erase the past? If something terrible happened, sure, but if they wanted to hide the Ark, why not just destroy it? Why go through the effort of building an enclosure around it and treating it like a museum piece?"

  He took another sip from Eliana’s canteen, letting the question sink in.

  After a moment, he exhaled. "Also, there’s one more thing you should know."

  Eliana and Ivan both turned to him, their expressions shifting from curiosity to caution.

  "I was attacked again," Kai said, setting the canteen down carefully. "Not by a person. Not by a machine. By the same liquid-like entity that’s inside me." His voice lowered. "But this time… it was humanoid."

  A chill settled over the group.

  Eliana’s posture stiffened. "And?"

  "And it left me with something." Kai rubbed his temple, trying to recall every detail of what he had seen. "Visions. Images. Memories." He clenched his jaw. "I saw the generation ship, and I saw a man I thought I recognized." He shook his head. "Now I know why he looked familiar. It was this ship’s captain—and at first, I mistook him for Commander Yang."

  Eliana’s face went pale. "Wait—are you saying—"

  Kai nodded. "He also saw the liquid entity. I think he was the one who—" He hesitated, his throat tightening. "I think he became the thing that attacked me."

  Silence.

  No one spoke.

  Because they all knew exactly what that meant.

  "We never escaped," Eliana finally whispered, her voice barely audible.

  Ivan sat back, his expression grim. "The thing that dimmed the stars… it never lost us."

  The realization hung in the air.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Then why hasn’t it attacked us?" Ivan asked after a long moment.

  Kai shook his head. "That puzzles me too." His fingers tapped against the ration pack. "And that’s why I hope we find some answers here."

  Eliana and Ivan remained quiet, deep in thought.

  Kai took the opportunity to finish his rations, chewing slowly, eyes flicking toward Robert and Derniere.

  Robert was messing with Bell now, letting the tiny creature climb over his arm, while Derniere sat stiffly, looking half-nervous, half-amused.

  Before Robert could escalate things further, Teresa stepped in, arms crossed. "Robert," she sighed, "can’t you tell Derniere is exhausted? You should let her rest." She gently pulled Derniere away from him.

  "Fine, sorry," Robert said, raising his hands in surrender. He returned Bell to Derniere, watching as the little creature nestled into her pocket.

  Then, stretching his arms, he turned back toward Ivan. "Boss, we ready to get a move on?"

  Ivan nodded, his serious expression returning. "As soon as Kai is ready."

  Kai shoved the last piece of the biscuit into his mouth, brushing the crumbs off his fingers. He swallowed hard, then cracked his neck.

  "Don’t worry about me," he said, standing up and dusting himself off, "I’m ready anytime."

  The inside of the ship was dark, lifeless since the day it landed on this planet. Whatever power it once had was long gone. The air felt thick, heavy, as if the entire structure was in doremant, waiting for someone to wake it up.

  Ivan, Eliana, Kai, and Robert moved carefully, their night vision gear activated, scanning every corner as they advanced. Teresa had given hers to Kai, staying behind with Derniere. The girl was exhausted, but true to her nature, she had never once complained. Now, with someone watching her back, she finally let herself rest.

  Kai, on the other hand, felt charged with energy. Every step deeper into the Ark sent a thrill down his spine. He wasn’t just exploring some forgotten ruin—this was a generation ship from Earth, a relic of humanity’s past. He needed to see more, to understand.

  They walked in a single file line, Kai leading the way, heading toward what should be the front of the ship. Even in its current state, the Ark was a behemoth. It was easily the largest fly capable structure he had ever set foot in. He had heard the concept of generation ships before, but seeing one with his own eyes was an entirely different experience.

  The more they explored, the more it became clear—this wasn’t just a ship. It was a city.

  Everything about the design reflected that purpose. The layout was sprawling, intricate, with hallways wide enough for crowds, public squares, and what looked like entire districts. Shops, apartments, transportation hubs—the Ark had it all.

  As they moved forward, Kai realized something else—the ship must had gravity.

  Unlike the buried U.S.S.F. vessel he had found earlier, which had collapsed ceilings and no clear sense of orientation, the Ark was built upright, with floors stacked properly.

  His eyebrows furrowed as the realization hit him. If the Ark had a gravity generator… that meant Earth’s technology had been far more advanced than he had initially thought.

  The passage widened, revealing a massive, multi-leveled chamber. A towering abstract statue stood in the center, Kai couldn't tell what it was, it looked like nothing he recognized.

  Surrounding the statue were shops, most of them labeled in Japanese, though some had English signage as well.

  Seeing both languages side by side felt strange to him. One was his own, the language he thought in, the one that felt like home. The other was a complete mystery. And yet, the people of this ship must have been knowledged in both.

  For the first time, Kai found himself wanting to learn it.

  To see the world as they had. To understand how they lived.

  Eliana stopped abruptly, holding up a hand. "Hey, guys, I think I just found a bookstore or something."

  Kai’s head snapped toward her, his curiosity immediately piqued. He hurried over to where she was standing and saw rows upon rows of books.

  Not digital files, not hollow archives full of fabricated knowledge—real books. Printed pages. The kind you could touch, smell, turn.

  Kai almost gasped.

  Now he knew where Derniere’s books had come from. These must have been salvaged from the Ark, brought into the city.

  Screw that fabricated archives top-side. This was the real archive.

  He stepped inside, running his fingers over the spines of countless books, his heart pounding with excitement.

  But then he hit a problem.

  In his excitement, he had forgotten one crucial thing.

  The books were all in Japanese.

  Kai let out a frustrated breath. He had spent some time in both the ruined city and Chinatown, and he knew now that Japanese and Chinese weren’t the same. He couldn’t just guess his way through these pages.

  Maybe Derniere knew some. Her mother had been half-Japanese—she had mentioned being taught the language once. Maybe she still remembered enough to help him.

  Still, that didn’t stop him from browsing.

  He passed rows of colorful covers, clearly fiction, some with cartoon characters on them. One depicted a man in ragged clothes and a ridiculous hat, grinning like he was in on some private joke. Another featured people in headbands, making weird hand signs, almost like they were in a gang.

  He chuckled. What the hell were these?

  As much as he wanted to know, he didn’t have space for unnecessary books. He needed history. Something that would tell him about Earth.

  He moved toward the thicker, heavier books. Reference materials. Encyclopedias. Knowledge.

  Even then, he hesitated. There were too many to pick from.

  Finally, he reached high and pulled one from the top shelf. It was massive, its thick colored cover sturdy despite the centuries.

  And again it was written in Japanese.

  But the images inside? They were enough to make his head spin.

  There were animals he had never seen before—creatures beyond his imagination.

  One, in particular, caught his attention. Massive hind legs, tiny front limbs, a huge head with serrated teeth. It looked like it could bite through solid bones.

  Kai grinned.

  He liked that one. It looked ridiculous.

  He flipped further, and froze.

  There, in the middle of the book, was an image of a spacecraft.

  It had the flag with fifty stars, blue, white, and red.

  His breath caught in his throat. This was what he was looking for.

  But he couldn’t read it.

  An idea hit him, and he snapped the book shut.

  If this ship carried people from Earth, then it must have had language tools—something to help bridge the gap between cultures.

  He searched through another row of books before his eyes landed on it.

  The title read: "和英辞書 - Japanese-English Dictionary."

  Kai exhaled sharply. Perfect.

  As he picked it up, another thought struck him.

  If he could get this to Isaac, they could run it through the Black Swan’s computers, build a translation model, and decode the entire archive.

  That was it. That was the plan.

  Holding both books close to his chest, he turned toward Eliana, tempted to ask her to carry more. But one look at the rifle slung across her chest told him she probably had more pressing concerns.

  She caught his gaze and smirked, walking toward him. "Hey, nerd. How is it that you’re capable of being the most badass fighter, but at the same time, you get all starry-eyed over books?"

  Kai chuckled, shrugging. "Doesn’t that just make me more badass?"

  "Whatever you say," she said, rolling her eyes. Then, softer, "I like it. Your Makes you… easier to talk to. More real."

  "Oh? What’s this?" Kai smirked. "Three days without seeing me, and now you don’t know how to talk anymore?"

  "Shut up," she grinned, then lifted a hand to her helmet, adjusting the side of her earpiece.

  She listened, then responded. "Alright. Heading back now."

  Kai waited as she turned to face him again.

  Her casual expression hardened.

  "Looks like we have some visitors."